This invention relates generally to web browsers for displaying web pages, for example in connection with the Internet.
Internet web browsers are software that allow web pages to be displayed on a computer monitor or other display device. Web pages are typically standalone pages that the user can scroll and interact with. In some cases, web pages have secondary pop-up windows that appear simultaneously with the original web page. A pop-up window may appear under the control of web page software when an option is selected using a mouse button. The pop-up window typically remains visible until the mouse button is released. Pop-up windows may be used for such things as advertising, additional information about a web page, navigation or surveys, as a few examples.
Generally web browsers handle these pop-up windows by creating a separate web browser window in which the pop-up window is displayed. In Microsoft® Windows®, for example, each separate browser has an entry in the task bar, indicating to the user that each entry corresponds to a completely separate and controllable browser.
In some cases, a web browser only runs in one window. For example, the web browser or parts thereof may be embodied in hardware. When the web browser is embodied in hardware in devices such as Internet terminals, handheld Internet tablets and other appliance-like devices, the ability to create independent browser windows may be limited due to limitations in the operating system of the device.
Alternatively, some devices may be designed for ease of use. In such cases it may be desirable to reduce the complexity of the user interface by making a decision to use only one window even if the underlying operating system can support multiple windows.
In the situation where only one browser window may be displayed at a time, a problem arises with respect to how to handle the issue of pop-up windows. The pop-up window may simply be ignored and not presented to the user. This may be undesirable because the pop-up window may contain information that is important.
In multiple browser window situations, the pop-up window may be displayed in a second browser window. But this makes the user interface much more complex because a mechanism must be provided to switch between the browser windows and to dismiss unneeded browser windows. In other words, the user interface looks and feels like a windows interface and this may be at odds with the desire to create simple devices.
Thus, for a number of reasons, it would be desirable to have a way of controlling the display of pop-up windows in a browser that facilitates the operation of the computer system without unnecessarily annoying the user.